Sermons on Discipleship

In the house that I owned in North Carolina, we had this giant fig tree. I’m not going to lie to you, it may have been the one thing that sold us on the house. I love fresh figs, so this opportunity to get it whenever I want it—that was an offer I couldn’t refuse.…

Sermon on Luke 3:7-18 A couple weeks ago, I invited everyone to approach the time that we’re in, Advent, as kind of a spiritual discipline. As a time to break away from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, and really, just learn patience. Learn waiting. So here we are, starting our third week…

Image credit: Christopher Mathias, Twitter Sermon on Matthew 14:22-33 When I was growing up in small-town North Carolina, I remember a time when the Ku Klux Klan held a rally in the square in front of the county courthouse. And I remember people’s reaction was more embarrassment than anything; embarrassment that this was still a…

Big things come in little packages. Now that’s something we hear all the time. And yeah, you know, sometimes it’s true. But often what I’ve found is big things come in bigger packaging. That’s really the norm. If you want to cram in more stuff, you’ve got to get a bigger box. I’m relearning that…

Every year we celebrate Good Friday. And every year its the same text—the Passion according to John. And every year I am (or someone like me is) charged with getting up into the pulpit and saying something meaningful about Good Friday. About Jesus’ trial and crucifixion and death. About what it means and what it means to you. …

I am a perfectionist. Anyone else here like that? I like for things to be just right. I can spend hours hanging the picture frame just right. I can spend days and weeks on a simple project because it’s never quite there yet. It’s a good thing that Sunday sermons are a hard deadline, otherwise…

Sermon on Matthew 5:21-37 Well…happy Valentines Day everyone! Let the record show that I warned you about week three of the Sermon on the Mount. Look, let’s be honest, Jesus’ words to us today are hard to take. The imagery is violent and upsetting and the conclusions are simply outrageous. On the surface, this seems like…

Sermon on Matthew 4:12-23 So here we are at the inauguration. No, no. I can already hear it now…[gasp] the new pastor’s already getting political. No, not that inauguration. I’m talking about Jesus’ inauguration. We are at the moment in Matthew’s gospel where Jesus begins his ministry. And as we prepare to inaugurate a new ministry…